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That the Balloon boys love Sana with all their hearts is no secret. And that they love Yousef too isn’t either. But their love for Yousef and Sana doesn’t compare with their love for their children.
-x-
Since Sana and Yousef got married, all of them had been constantly teasing them about when they were planning on having children. They knew Yousef was really looking forward to it while Sana wasn’t that keen on it, or at least that’s what she said. They didn’t expect them having children that soon after they got married though so when only 9 months after their wedding Yousef and Sana called them all asking to meet them at their house that idea didn’t even crossed their minds.
“Thank you for coming” Sana said as all the boys sat in front of her and Yousef.
“What is this about sis?” Elias asked
“What have you done Yousef?” Adam added
“I haven’t done anything” Yousef defended himself
“Well, you kind of have” Sana said blushing
“Sana!” Yousef chuckled completely embarrassed.
“I’m not understanding anything” Mutta said confused
“Guys, what’s going on?” Mikael asked
“Okay so…we called you here because we need to tell you something important and we thought that we should tell you all at once” Sana started
“We know this might be unexpected” Yousef continued
“Are you divorcing?” Mutta asked as disappointed as if his parents were telling them that they were going to have a divorce
“No! No, no, no. It’s the opposite actually” Yousef said
“The opposite would be getting married and you’re already married” Mikael said
“Are you going to renew your vows?” Adam asked
“What are you talking about Adam? How are they going to renew their vows, they haven’t even been married for a year” Elias said rolling his eyes
Yousef looked at Sana exasperated. Sana just shrugged as a way of saying “they’re your friends”. Yousef shook his head as the rest of the boys started a fight over how much time was logical to pass to renew the vows.
“Guys, guys…guys!” Sana said clapping her hands to catch their attention
“Wait a moment Sana” Elias said not even looking at her “Stop defending Adam, Mikael, you don’t know what you’re talking about”
“I’m not defending him but it makes sense what he’s saying”
“I’m not understanding anything” Mutta said again
“I’m pregnant!” Sana yelled
The whole room turned silent as the boys looked at Sana and Yousef taken aback by the news.
“What?” Elias asked
“I’m pregnant, you’re going to be an uncle Elias, you’re all going to be uncles”
“But pregnant as in having a baby pregnant?”
“No, pregnant as in having a fish, what do you think Mikael?”Sana said rolling her eyes
“You’re pregnant!!” Elias exclaimed standing up and hugging his sister
“I told you they wouldn’t wait a year!! You owe me 100kr!”Adam told Mutta as he extended his hand waiting to be paid
“Seriously Yousef? You couldn’t wait three more months?”Mutta said shaking his head
“You bet on how fast I’d get pregnant?” Sana asked “You do realize how creepy that is, right?”
“It’s not creepy, it’s the miracle of life” Mikael said smiling
“Yousef my man, you’re going to be a dad!” Elias said hugging his friend “And my sister is going to be a mom and I’m going to be an uncle and…and…”
“Elias are you crying?” Sana asked smiling as her brother tried to hide the tears
“No, I’m not” he said sniffing
“Yes you are! Come on Adam bring me the camera, this is going to make a sick video” Mikael exclaimed
Sana glared at Yousef who was laughing at the situation, “these are your friends” she wanted to say.
————x—————
“Be careful, Sana”, “You don’t have to that on your own, Sana” “Sana, let me do that for you” “Just sit down and rest, Sana” “No Sana, you can’t eat that, it’s not good for the baby” “Let me take care of that, Sana” “Sana, where do you think you’re going?” “I’M PREGNANT I’M NOT SICK, STOP IT ALREADY”
Those sentences could pretty much sum up the nine months of Sana’s pregnancy. All the boys, and Yousef the first of all, wouldn’t let Sana do as much as breathing in case something happened to her or to the baby.
So when Sana went into labor while the boys were at her house she knew what was coming.
“Guys…” Sana said as calm as she possibly could “I think…I think I’m having the baby”
“WHAT?” Yousef yelled as he stood up from the chair and almost fainted while doing it
“But are you sure?” Elias asked
“Pretty sure” Sana said looking at the wet floor under her
“Wow Sana, you could’ve used the toilet for that” Mikael said
“Are you dumb? Her water just broke!” Adam said hitting Mikael’s head
“Okay, what do we do? What do we do?” Mutta asked starting to panic
“Well, I think that taking me to the hospital would be a good idea, don’t you think?” Sana said glaring at them
“Yes, yes, yes come on guys we have rehearsed this so many times, Elias keys, Mutta and Adam bag, Mikael camera and I…I…what did I have to take?” Yousef said anxiously
“Sana! You had to take Sana” Elias said
“Oh, oh, true, true. Come on babe, everything is going to be okay, don’t panic, just breathe, breathe”
“Yeah, you may want to take your own advice” Sana said shaking her head
-x-
“They’ve been there for too long, what is taking so long?” Elias asked as he kept pacing around the room
“Relax, in every book I’ve read says that this can take several hours” Mutta said
“How many books have you read about pregnancy dude?”Adam asked
“About 12” Mutta said shrugging “14 if you count the audiobooks”
“Here we have dumb and dumber talking about pregnancy books” Mikael said as he focused the video camera on them, then he turned to Elias “And here we have the soon to be uncle having a stroke”
“Mikael keep that off my face or I swear I’m going to…”
“Relatives of Sana Bakkoush?” a nurse interrupted Elias
Elias walked over to her as Mikael, Mutta and Adam stood up and followed him.
“I’m her brother” Elias said
“And we’re the baby’s uncles” Mutta added pointing at the rest of the boys and himself
“So all of you are Sana’s brothers” the nurse said
“No just me, but they’re the uncles too”
“Yousef’s brothers then?”
“We’re his bros” Adam said nodding
“Okay…well everything went well and she’s a lovely girl”
“It’s a girl!!!” Mutta said doing his meme face
“We already knew it was a girl” Mikael said rolling his eyes
“I know but we’ve had it confirmed”
“I think it was pretty much confirmed when Sana showed us that ultrasound” Adam said
“Yeah but…”
“Guys!” Elias said clapping his hands and turning to the nurse “Can we see her?”
“Yes, you can but one by one, okay?” the nurse said as she left them in the waiting room
“Well, I’m going in while you decide the order” Elias said
“Uh, excuse me, why do you get to be the first one?” Adam asked
“Because I’m the real uncle, Sana is my sister and Yousef is my best friend”
“Wow, that was very rude. We’re supposed to love each other equally” Mutta said “Besides, kids like me better than you”
“That’s bullshit, I’m Sana’s brother and I’m going in first” Elias said
“We should draw lots” Adam said
“What are you talking about? She’s my sister!!” Elias almost yelled
“Wait, where’s Mikael?” Mutta said realizing that the boy was nowhere to be found
“That little piece of shit” Elias said as he walked to the room where Sana was. “Mikael! That’s cheating” he yelled from the other side of the door
The door of the room opened and Yousef came out of it. His eyes were red, he had clearly been crying.
“Guys, if you promise to be completely calm I’ll let you in all at once, but you have to be chill, okay?” Yousef said
“Yeah, yeah, let me in” Elias said as he walked past Yousef and entered the room followed by the rest of the boys
Mikael was in one side of the room holding the baby in his arms.
“Boys, let me introduce you to Leila, the most beautiful baby in this world” Mikael said as the boys approached them
“Oh my god she’s so tiny” Mutta said as he gently caressed one of her hands
“I can’t believe Yousef did this” Adam said “She’s so beautiful”
“She looks like her mother, that’s the only explanation” Yousef said as he stood next to Sana and gave her a kiss on her forehead “She’s going to be a warrior just like her”
“Elias? Are you okay?” Sana asked her brother who hadn’t said a word since he had entered the room.
“I just…I…” Elias said trying to hold back the tears but he completely failed at it “She is my niece, Sana”
“Yes, she is” Sana said smiling at her brother “Why don’t you hold her?”
“What if I hurt her?” he asked
“You won’t, I trust you”
Elias nodded and took the baby from Mikael’s arms slowly.
“Hi, Leila, I’m your uncle Elias. These are Mikael, Adam and Mutta, they’re going to love you so much but you better love me more, okay?”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that” Adam said “I’m way cooler than you are”
“But I’m the kindest” Mutta argued
“Guys, guys, who was the first one to hold her, huh?” Mikael said with a smug face
“She’s my blood, you can’t fight blood” Elias said
Sana chuckled as she shook her head and looked at Yousef, “these are your friends”
—————–x——————-
“Happy birthday Leila!” Elias said as he hugged his niece “Oh my god how old are you already? 6? 7?”
“I’m only 3 uncle Elias!” Leila laughed
“Oh, only 3? Then I’ll have to give this big present to another child…”
“No, no, no! I’m 6”
“Leila, what have we talked about lying?” Sana told her daughter
“It’s a bad thing to do” Leila said
“Exactly, now give uncle Elias a kiss and go to the backyard to play with your friends, I’ll be out in a minute with the cake”
The little girl did as she was told and left after kissing her uncle
“How are you doing, sis?” Elias said pointing at Sana’s belly
“I’m holding up quite well actually, only three more weeks before Khaled is here with us” Sana said smiling
“Ah, I’m going to spoil that little kid”
“Like you’re already doing with Leila, you mean?”
“Exactly like that”
Sana rolled her eyes and led the way to the garden where everyone was.
-x-
“Yo, Adam what was that?” Elias asked his friend as he approached him after the cake
“What was what?”
“We agreed on one present each and you gave Leila two” Elias said
“That was so not cool, Adam” Mutta said
“Are you trying to get her to like you better or what?” Mikael asked
“Okay first of all, I gave her two gifts because in the movie those two characters are always together so I bought the two dolls at once, and second of all I don’t need gifts to make her like me best, she already does” Adam said with a smug face
“Ha! You wish, I gave her a basketball jersey of her favorite team, did you see the look on her face? She loved it” Mutta said
“She’s only 3, what are you talking about? She loved my movies” Mikael argued
“I bought her a freaking slide, are you being serious now?” Elias asked shaking his head “Besides I’m her blood”
“Stop using that argument! Family is not only blood damn it!”Adam almost yelled at him
“Okay that’s enough we’re going to solve this as grown men”Mikael said “Leila! Sweetie, can you come here for a second?”
The little girl approached them almost jumping, she loved her uncles so much
“Hi, honey, we’re going to ask you a question and you don’t need to feel pressured at all okay?” Mikael said crouching to get to her height “So who do you love the most, uncle Elias, uncle Mutta, uncle Adam or me?”
“I love you all the same” Leila said shrugging
“But Leila honey, remember how I gave you not one but two presents today? That’s really cool right?” Adam said
“I always bring you ice-cream even when your mom says you can’t have it, you remember that right Leila?” Mutta added
“Remember how I was the first one that took you to the cinema to see that movie you liked so much?” Mikael said
“Leila, I’m your uncle, your real uncle, I took you to the theme park” Elias said “You have to like me more than them”
“I…I think I like uncle Isak the most” Leila said kind of uncomfortable
“What??!” Elias almost yelled
“Are you seriously asking my daughter who she likes most?”Yousef said as he approached the group with Sana by her side
“Leila go play with your friends and don’t listen to your dumb uncles” Sana told her daughter
She waited for her to be gone before she spoke again
“What is wrong with you guys? She’s only 3”
“Adam was trying to buy her with gifts” Elias said “I’m her real uncle”
“I was just being nice, what are you talking about?”
“Okay, stop!” Sana said before another fight would start “You four are going to start behaving like adults or I swear you’re not going to get anywhere near this baby”
She pointed at her stomach while glaring at them
“You wouldn’t dare” Mikael said
“Test me” she said taking a step forward
“Okay, okay, it’s chill, we’ll behave” Mutta said
Sana nodded and looked at Yousef shaking her head, “these are your friends”.
——————x—————–
“Are you sure of this?”
“Come on Sana, we haven’t been on a proper date since Hakim was born” Yousef said “And he’s almost a year old already”
“Yeah, I know but are we sure that they…” she pointed at the boys in her living room “Are the ones to take care of our three children?”
“They’re four men taking care of a 6 years old girl, a 3 years old boy and a one year old baby, I think they’ll manage just fine”
“Ah…okay” she said
Elias, Mikael, Adam and Mutta were playing in the living room with the kids. Leila was showing Mutta his drawings while Mikael and Adam played with Khaled on the floor and Elias kept Hakim on his lap.
“Okay guys, we’re going. If anything happens you call me right away, understood?”
“Relax Sana, everything is under control” Elias said
-x-
Everything wasn’t under control. Let’s say that playing with kids for awhile wasn’t exactly the same as spending a whole evening with them. It wasn’t that the kids were bad kids, quite the opposite actually, the problem was that the boys wouldn’t agree on anything.
“No, Khaled you can’t have ice cream after dinner” Elias said
“But uncle Mutta gave Leila ice cream”
“Seriously Mutta?” Adam asked him rolling his eyes
“It’s our tradition” Mutta defended himself
“Uh, guys I think Hakim needs to be changed” Mikael said as he held him in his arms “Any volunteer?”
“Don’t you know how to do it?” Elias asked
“Do you?”
“Of course I do, who do you think you’re talking to?”
Five diapers later Hakim was finally changed.
“Okay buddy now I’m going to leave you in your crib to sleep”Elias said as he laid him down
“Elias you have to lay him on one side” Adam said
“What? No I’m pretty sure he should lie on his back” Mikael said
“Guys, let the expert talk, in the books I read it said…I don’t really remember what it said to be honest…” Mutta said confused
“Let’s just call Sana and ask her” Adam suggested
“No! No one is calling my sister, we are capable of doing this”
“Uncle Elias, Leila keeps painting on me” Khaled whined
“Leila, stop it”
“But I’m just being artistic, dad always says that art is important”
“What about you paint on a notebook instead of on your brother” Mutta said
“But I don’t want to paint on a notebook” Leila said pouting
“Seriously, how do Sana and Yousef do this every day?” Mikael asked
-x-
“Everything is extremely quiet” Sana said as they entered the house a few hours later
“That’s a good sign right?” Yousef asked
“Or not”
They entered the living room and were surprised by the scene. On one couch Mutta laid with little Hakim on his arms. In the floor, Adam and Mikael were sat together with their backs against the couch and Khaled lying on their legs. And on the other couch Leila laid on Elias’ chest. They were all sleeping peacefully.
Sana smiled at the view and looked at Yousef, “these are our friends”